Butter
Used in a few warm or dessert-style cocktails, like a Hot Buttered Rum, for richness.
Origin
Wherever dairy animals have been domesticated; butter-making dates back thousands of years across Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia.
History
Butter has been made for thousands of years wherever people kept dairy animals, long predating any specific cocktail use. Its most notable appearance behind the bar is in hot buttered rum, a colonial-American winter drink dating back to at least the 18th century, where a pat of butter is stirred into hot rum, water, and spices to add richness and a silky mouthfeel that a purely liquid ingredient can't replicate.
Flavor profile
Rich, creamy, and mildly sweet, adding body and mouthfeel more than a distinct flavor of its own.
Tasting notes
Melted into a hot drink, butter adds a silky, rounding richness that softens spice and alcohol without contributing much flavor on its own - its main job is texture rather than taste.
Substitutes
- A butter-infused (fat-washed) spirit, for the same richness pre-incorporated into the base liquor rather than added separately.
- Cream or half-and-half, for a different but comparably rich, smoothing addition to a hot or creamy drink.
- Ghee (clarified butter), for a similar richness with a slightly nuttier, more concentrated flavor.
Common cocktails